You don't really look at a toothbrush and say, "I'm great!" But when you look at an Afro pick, which is a grooming tool, it can remind you in your subconscious to, like, really be proud and, like, "All right."
Zapravo ne pogledate četkicu za zube i kažete, "Odlično sam!" Ali kad pogledate afro češalj, koji je alat za dotjerivanje, može vas u vašoj podsvijesti podsjetiti na, kao, to da budete stvarno ponosni, kao, "U redu."
[Small thing.]
[Mala stvar.]
[Big idea.]
[Velika ideja.]
An Afro pick is a utilitarian tool used to maintain the Afro hairstyle. I think the Afro pick was designed for the ergonomics of creating something that felt like you were running fingers through your hair. The shape, even the depth that it goes in -- it's like a hand. You have plastic or nylon teeth, and then you have the stainless steel or the nickel teeth. I always prefer the metal tooth just 'cause I like the sound and the ones I know have the black power fist on the handle.
Afro češalj je praktičan alat korišten za održavanje afro frizura. Mislim da je afro češalj dizajniran za ergonomiju stvaranja nečega kao da imate osjećaj da prstima prolazite kroz kosu. Oblik, čak i dubina kojom ulazi -- poput ruke je. Imate plastične ili najlonske zupce i onda imate zupce od nehrđajućeg čelika ili nikla. Uvijek više volim metalni zubac samo zato jer volim zvuk i one za koje znam da imaju šaku crne moći na dršci.
When I think of black hair in America, I think of something that's been policed. Back in the days, it was expected for black people to chemically treat their hair. Whether that's healthy for them is a secondary thing to blending in.
Kad mislim o crnoj kosi u Americi, mislim o nečemu što je bilo kontrolirano. U ono vrijeme, bilo je očekivano od crnaca da kemijski tretiraju svoju kosu. Je li to zdravo za njih bila je sporedna stvar u usporedbi s uklapanjem.
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford and a lot of jazz singers were tired of straightening their hair, so they said, all right, we're going to just let it grow naturally and started rocking natural, close-cropped hair. And in the 60s, that style evolved with the formation of the Afro, which was the cropped hair, natural, picked out into a more spherical shape. You had civil rights leaders, activists, that adopted the hairstyle as a means of rebellion and black pride. And then you had musicians like James Brown, who was infamously known for chemically straightening his hair, reject that and go natural. It went hand-in-hand with his music, so he had songs like "Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."
U 50-ima, plesačica Ruth Beckford i mnogi jazz pjevači bili su umorni od ravnanja svoje kose pa su rekli, u redu, pustit ćemo da prirodno raste i počeli su ponosno nositi prirodnu, kratko ošišanu kosu. I u 60-ima, taj se stil razvio oblikovanjem afro frizure, koja je bila ošišana kosa, prirodna, raščešljana u više sferični oblik. Imate vođe građanskih prava, aktiviste, koji su prisvojili tu frizuru kao sredstva pobune i crnačkog ponosa. I onda ste imali glazbenike poput James Browna, koji je neslavno bio poznat po kemijskom ravnanju svoje kose, koji to odbacuje i pušta kosu. Išlo je ruku pod ruku s njegovom glazbom, pa je imao pjesme poput "Reci glasno, ja sam crn i ponosan."
The black is beautiful movement is just rejecting the notion that to be black or to have darker skin, to have a curlier grade of hair, was something to be ashamed of. I have one of my favorite pictures of my mother and my grandmother, and my grandmother had a small 'fro, and that was in the 60s.
Pokret Crno je prekrasno samo je odbacivanje pojma da je biti crn ili imati tamniju kožu, imati kovrčaviji stupanj kose, nešto čega se trebalo sramiti. Imam jednu od najdražih slika moje majke i moje bake, i moja baka je imala malu afro, i to je bilo u 60-ima.
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE. The oldest African combs are found in ancient Egypt and Sudan, so they were making pyramids and combs. The way the ancient African combs were embellished represented status or tribal affiliation. It's no coincidence that the fist on the modern Afro pick also sets the tone for affiliation and what set you claim.
Afrički češljevi za kosu datiraju iz 3500. g. pr. Kr. Najstariji afrički češljevi nađeni su u drevnom Egiptu i Sudanu, dakle pravili su piramide i češljeve. Način na koji su drevni afrički češljevi bili ukrašeni predstavljao je status ili plemensku pripadnost. Nije slučajnost da šaka na modernom afro češlju postavlja ton za pripadnost i na koje društvo polažete pravo.
And then there's the Black Power movement. Most movements need their icons, right? You have the fist, you have the 'fro. These things coincide with the Black Panther aesthetic, where you could kind of spot your tribe from afar, because you're not just keeping a pick in, like, your beauty kit. It's in your back pocket, purposely with the first outside of it, and in your hair, you'll rock it in your 'fro.
I onda je tu Pokret crne moći. Većina pokreta treba svoje ikone, zar ne? Imate šaku, imate afro. Ove stvari se podudaraju s estetikom Crne pantere, gdje biste nekako mogli uočiti svoje pleme izdaleka, jer ne nosite češalj samo kao pribor za uljepšavanje. U vašem stražnjem džepu je, sa šakom koja namjerno viri, i u vašoj kosi, ponosno ga nosite u vašoj kosi.
If I think about iconic Afros, I definitely think about Angela Davis. Her 'fro personifies elegance, style, freedom, rebellion. You feel all of these feelings at once when you see Angela Davis fighting for her life in federal court.
Kad razmišljam o ikoničnim afro frizurama, definitivno mislim o Angeli Davis. Njena afro oličava eleganciju, stil, slobodu, pobunu. Osjećate sve ove osjećaje odjednom kad vidite Angelu Davis kako se na saveznom sudu bori za svoj život.
By the 80s, the Afro style became less radical. The Afro picks are still produced to this day with the clenched fist, so it's the remnants of the movement in the everyday object.
Do 80-ih, afro stil postao je manje radikalan. Afro češljevi još se uvijek proizvode sa stisnutom šakom, i tu su ti ostaci pokreta u svakodnevnim predmetima.
When I was young, it was just, like, another object. It was a comb. But as I became more enlightened to really understand the roots and the origin and the intentionality of the design and why the fist and all of these things ... I woke up.
Kad sam bio mlad, bio je samo kao bilo koji predmet. To je bio češalj. Ali kad sam došao do spoznaje da stvarno razumijem korijene i podrijetlo i hotimičnost dizajna i zašto šaka i sve ove stvari ... Probudio sam se.